Online Dating Leads To Real-World Breakups, Study Says

Many of the people who come to our online divorce review site are excited about the future. They’ve made the decision that the marriage isn’t working, they’ve had the confrontation, and now they’re looking forward with a more hopeful eye. Part of that hopefulness will (eventually) involve meeting someone new, and most will use an online dating site to make that happen.

But a new study suggests that you may not want to put too much confidence in that method of meet up. According to a paper published in the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking Journal, people who meet online are more likely to break up and less likely to get married.

The reason — in a word, choices. Study author Aditi Paul explains:

“This could be because people think, ‘You know what, I met somebody online, so I understand that there are other people available once I break up with this person,’” Paul said in comments to Huffington Post. The paper also notes that too many options can lead to the inability to make a decision.

Methodology

Paul used a longitudinal study from Stanford University to determine the behaviors of more than 2,923 married and dating couples. Of those in the study, 32 percent of online unmarried couples had broken up, while only 23 percent of offline unmarried couples had. “Only 8 percent of online couples were separated or divorced over the course of the survey, compared to 2 percent of the couples who met offline,” HuffPo added.

Furthermore, 32 percent of online daters got married while 67 percent of real-world daters followed suit.

So should you just forget about online dating altogether? No, says Paul. “What I’d encourage is once you find a partner, delete your profile and give it some time,” she said. “Nothing can replace the old-tested principles of time and intimacy and letting things develop.”

If you are not quite at the point of online dating but are about to be once you move past the divorce, make sure you check out our online divorce reviews pointing you to the best sites for both finding an attorney or DIY divorce. Best of luck!